A Ukrainian national who helped run a high-cost people-smuggling operation using a yacht to bring migrants across the English Channel has been deported from the UK.
Vladyslav Cherniavskyi, 38, was jailed earlier this year after admitting three counts of assisting unlawful immigration.
He and Oleksandr Yavtushenko, 43, used the yacht Uforia to transport small groups of migrants from northern France to the south coast of England. The National Crime Agency said passengers were charged premium prices, with one migrant saying he had paid £16,000 and another due to pay £13,000.
Yacht intercepted off Chichester
The pair were caught after Uforia was intercepted in July 2025, around four-and-a-half miles off Chichester.
The vessel was carrying four Albanian men and a Vietnamese female when Border Security Command officers stopped it and escorted it to Haslar Marina in Gosport. Investigators later linked the yacht to earlier crossings, including one into Itchenor in Chichester Harbour in August 2024 and another from France in June 2025.
Cherniavskyi owned the yacht, while Yavtushenko acted as skipper.
Pair jailed
Both men pleaded guilty to three counts of assisting unlawful immigration.
At Portsmouth Crown Court in March 2026, Cherniavskyi was sentenced to six years in prison and Yavtushenko to five years. The yacht was also forfeited.
Cherniavskyi has now been deported after serving part of his sentence, according to reports published on Friday.
The National Crime Agency previously described the operation as a type of “ferry service”, with the men standing to make tens of thousands of pounds from each crossing.
